Leon Black fails to appear for US House deposition about Epstein ties

• At the 2026 SCO Summit, member states issued the Bishkek Declaration, which explicitly rejects unilateral sanctions and the application of "double standards" regarding global terrorism. • The declaration supports a negotiated two-state solution for the Israel-Palestine conflict, though it contains less detailed language on Gaza's humanitarian crisis and ceasefires compared to the 2025 Tianjin declaration.

Guardian reporters in Nepal have witnessed first-hand the scenes of destruction and grief after the flash floods. Plus, a not-to-be-missed interview with the legendary Mr TGood morning. Thousands remain missing and the delivery of aid has been hampered by treacherous conditions in communities almost wiped out of existence by the flash flooding in Nepal and Tibet. A week after the disaster, survivors who fled up mountainsides are still being collected by army helicopters and evacuated.The mountain village of Syabru Besi was among those destroyed, with even the road to the village gone. According to local government officials, at least 500 people there are missing, a quarter of the population. The village resembles nothing more than a muddy riverbed, with just one building left standing.What have Guardian reporters witnessed? Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Gaurav Pokharel have been in Betrawati and Rasuwa districts with the photographer Ahmer Khan. In this video, Ellis-Petersen explains what she has seen alongside haunting footage of the debris. They have spoken to multiple survivors in a region now full of human suffering. Continue reading...

Bureau of Meteorology suggests El Niño has already broken records, with Pacific ocean temperature change exceeding 2C in six monthsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesSign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereThe growing El Niño weather phenomenon to Australia’s east is already breaking heat records, with forecasts showing it will likely easily surpass previous events, according to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, as seperate research suggested climate change had greatly shortened the odds of the event hitting record extremes.On Thursday the UN’s weather agency said the event in the Pacific was continuing to strengthen and would probably persist until early 2027, warning it had the “potential to deliver a massive blow to communities and economies across the world”.Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Continue reading...

McDonagh’s new film, Wild Horse Nine, stars John Malkovich as an agent in 1970s Chile who feels ‘guilt and regret’ over his role in global interventionsThe US’s history of intervening in democratic processes around the world deserves more attention in the light of current political developments, playwright and film-maker Martin McDonagh has said, as his Oscar-tipped film about a rueful CIA agent premieres at the Venice film festival.“I’ve been very interested in the truth of what the CIA has been doing over the last 60 years, and the awful things they’ve done all around the world,” McDonagh said about Wild Horse Nine, his first film since his 2022 tragicomedy The Banshees of Inisherin. “I think maybe something that’s not talked about enough. We know what the KGB are like, but we probably don’t question the CIA’s activity as much as we ought to.” Continue reading...

President said Howard Lutnick had Venezuela operation on his mind when he was discussing Iran war on CNBCDonald Trump has claimed his commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, erroneously stated that no Americans had been killed in the war with Iran because he was thinking about a previous US operation, in Venezuela.The claim, at odds with the Pentagon’s count of 18 US service members dead in the US-Israel war on Iran, sparked a swift backlash as Trump struggles to end the conflict after six months. Continue reading...

Futuro Nazionale’s speedy rise in polls prompts questions over whether PM will return to her roots before electionEurope live – latest updatesGiorgia Meloni’s government has become the longest-running in Italy since the second world war – a milestone the prime minister is determined not to let pass unnoticed.In the port area of Bari, capital of the southern Italian region of Puglia, where Meloni hosted the G7 in 2024 and where she spends her summer holiday, preparations are well underway for a festival-style showcase of her rightwing administration. Continue reading...

Air bases used by US in the UAE and Kuwait hit as the Israeli defence chief says Iran’s regime fears collapse due to economic pressuresIran has continued to demonstrate an ability to target bases in the Gulf used by the US despite six months of war and a new sanctions regime described by the Trump administration as an “economic D-day”.As Iran’s military targeted US bases in the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, despite threats of further strikes by the US president, Israel’s defence chief warned that economic pressures from the sanctions could lead Tehran to escalate to more “extreme measures”. Continue reading...

Domestic security service says clash with military intelligence directorate ‘definitely shouldn’t have happened’Several people have been injured in a shootout in central Kyiv between two branches of Ukraine’s security services, in an incident Volodymyr Zelenskyy described as “disgraceful”.The shootout, which took place on Wednesday morning in a downtown area of the capital, was between officers from the domestic security service, the SBU, and the military intelligence directorate, the HUR. Continue reading...

Wildfire victims rebuilt their homes in Lahaina only to find USPS had ‘eliminated’ their addresses – while houses that didn’t burn receive mail as normalTwo months after a devastating wildfire whipped through Lahaina in August 2023, Pam Reader was allowed back to see what was left of her home. With a heavy heart, she returned to the Hawaiian oceanside town now filled with endless blocks of burned houses. As she rounded her corner, she saw the only thing remaining was her bright turquoise mailbox.“It was an old crappy mailbox,” Reader said. “It was metal, though, which is why I think it survived.” Continue reading...

Former US secretary of state joins Roxane Gay, Rachel Cargle and others in heralding groundbreaking feministHillary Clinton led tributes to Gloria Steinem on Thursday, hailing the American feminist icon who died at 92 at home in New York as “one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality”.Clinton, a former US secretary of state, presidential candidate and first lady, appeared on the CBS Mornings TV show to deliver a tribute, urging younger generations to use Steinem as a role model in supporting each other in promoting the causes she championed. Continue reading...

Semi-conductor giant bets that support for open AI models could offset potential slowdown in demand for chipsNvidia will buy the popular developer platform Hugging Face for nearly $13bn, betting that support for ⁠open AI models could offset a potential slowdown in demand for the semiconductor giant’s chips.Shares ⁠in Nvidia were ⁠slightly lower ​after the $12.93bn (£9.57bn) deal – which ranks among its biggest ever – was announced for the database of AI models on Thursday. Continue reading...